Ah, Microsoft. I thought their shopping spree ended when they purchased Skype (and even then they lost to Zoom during the isolation despite having YEARS to prepare). That explains a great deal.Thank you.

@IDDQD It's not really Microsoft's fault. It started with Minecraft Pocket edition which was re-written in Objective C for iPhones before Microsoft bought Mojang. Notch didn't bother to make the C versions compatible with the Java versions. Bedrock was just Microsoft deciding to release the C version on PC so you can play with your friends on mobile phones and iPads. So Microsoft did a good thing trying to fix what Notch did

@IDDQD As for the reason why the Java edition is still around instead of being abandoned for Bedrock, one word - mods. People have lovingly crafted intricate worlds with mods. Players would complain if Microsoft abandoned the Java edition

@slebetman Yes, people would complain if Java edition was abandoned because that's basically what Minecraft is. If it wasn't for consoles and mobile they would have ditched Bedrock long ago. Java is what's most actively developed.

Java players hate Bedrock because of the much, much better performance. And, by now, features like RTX. I wish they'd bury Java after bringing better mod support to Bedrock, but that seems unlikely for now.

It's impossible to make the Bedrock version compatible with Java mods because Java mods rely heavily on features of the JVM like reflection which gives mods access to (and ability to change) the internals of Minecraft - this just isn't possible with the C version (well, unless Microsoft shipped the entire C/C++ source-code of Minecraft and let users build their own mods from source, but that won't happen - and you can blame Apple for that one).

Small niggle: the ps3, ps4 and every bluray player that exists can run Java, due to the BD-J standard. I doubt minecraft could be implemented in such an environment though.

@bobsburner Sorry to disappoint you, but Java != Java, or rather JVM != JVM. By your logic my Credit Card or old Nokia 3330 should be able to run Minecraft JE because they can run Java. There are a lot of small and minimalistic JVMs out there, tailored for only specific jobs. Java ist just the language, not the entire ecosystem, like classes or JVM features. Your BD-J standard even mentions that it's a "Java variant".

@Dai I believe we'll eventually see mods for the Bedrock version of Minecraft. It might take a while, however.

@NumLock It isn't just that... A phone or a smart card has a tailored JRE (Java Runtime Environment). Also, those devices do not have the capabilities of rendering a 3D environment using OpenGL. If Minecraft Java was ported to use OpenGL SE, then MAYBE would be possible to run it on an Android phone. Just the fact that it can run Java doesn't mean it can run EVERYTHING made in Java.

came here to post that all platforms can run java, looks like others already did :)

@T.Sar The main problem is that mods are (currently) one sides, with modders forcing mods into a game that does not support it, and Mojang still seems unwilling to support them. Modding native (c++) games is much, much harder than modding games with either scripting languages or JIT languages.